We hope there will be more entries from Alta, Lightning, Energica and others in the future.

Below we present base MSRP in the U.S. for all the models with all the battery pack options:

EV Motorcyle Comparison – U.S. (November 17, 2015)

Victory Empulse TT

In the case of range, motorcycles don’t have an EPA test standard, which could cause problems when comparing different models.

As of now, we used Zero’s “City” rating for Zeros (and 100 miles for Victory) for best-case scenario:

Zero “City” rating:

“A “City” range test is specified to determine riding range during “stop-and-go” operation typically found in urban areas. This estimate is provided following the SAE J2982 Riding Range Test Procedure for On-Highway Electric Motorcycles to provide a reasonable and consistent basis for manufacturers to inform prospective owners of the riding range that can be expected under specified operating conditions. Actual range will vary based upon riding conditions and habits.”

We appreciate any help and ideas on how to present electric range for these unrated motorcycles.

EV Motorcyle Comparison – U.S. (November 17, 2015)

Second attempt is to illustrate the range at a constant 70 mph (112 km/h) speed (no rating for Victory):

EV Motorcyle Comparison – U.S. (November 17, 2015)

And finally battery pack size comparison, as well as MSRP price to pack size ratio:

12 responses to "Electric Motorcycle Comparison – Zero & Victory"

So it’s thanksgiving now. That explains why there have been almost no tv-serie releases for a couple of days.
You guys know that I get cranky if I don’t get my weekly fix of the Big Bang Theory so in the future I would appreciate if you stopped having holidays and such that interferes with my favorite shows. 😉

As much as i prefer my Zero S over the Victory(Brammo), i do see that the 0-60 figure quoted is quite high. I believe the Empulse is as fast as a Zero S but not Zero SR so 0-60 should be just under 5 seconds fot the Empulse TT not 7.6 secs. Great job !

Unless Victory de-tuned the Empulse, the numbers seem a bit off. Brammo listed the city range at 121 with a smaller battery pack. Cycle World list a 0-60 time of 4.8 and a top speed of 103 with the 2013 model year.

In any case, until Victory actually makes them available, they are vapor ware, just like everything else that you can’t buy.

<=== Empulse R Owner; The Victory motor has less torque than the top spec Brammo. 7.6 seconds does seem slow, but the Victory will definitely be slower than the older Empulse R, but probably faster than the base non-R Empulse which has less torque than the Victory.

For me, it brought home why I don’t yet have an electric motorcycle… While the range figures look good compared to car BEVs (and still good-ish once you take price into account), my primary usage, and many others’, would be full-day road trips, where a lot more range is necessary. At the very least, 50% more range + fast charging ability (which is somewhat addressed with the DigiNow or new Zero inboard charger option).

Don’t know why anybody’d include the LiveWire. That thing was basically a very cautious testing of the waters. Any of the available specs on that thing would very likely be far different from a commercial product. But damn that was a good looking bike.

Nice comparison! It does make you wonder why anyone would fork out any money for the Victory. Overpriced, underpowered, bad range. There are numerous better choices from Zero even in the category it plays in. Zero needs some real competitors.

Well, the Victory was just recently announced… I don’t think you can actually get them yet. There haven’t even been full reviews/road tests yet on the various websites/mags, only “first impressions”. It’ll take a while for the dust to settle until it’s clear what has changed from the Brammo models.

Ditto for the 2016 Zero models (IIRC, first deliveries will be next month).

And of course spec numbers aren’t the whole deal — reliability, dealer network etc. are fairly important as well.

Both companies are pretty small still… Zero sold ~2400 bikes in 2014, and “a lot less than 10K” (quote from their sales VP) in 2015 — I think Brammo never reached 4 figures.

Instead of using the X axis for model names, put one of the two variables (cost or battery size) on that axis. It’s easier to compare two models, and whether they’re above or below the averages slope tells the relative cost.